Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)

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Children of Earth: Day Three was the third episode of the third series of Torchwood.

Synopsis

The eyes of the world turn to Britain, as the 456 announce: "We are here," as the new Torchwood adventure continues. As a pillar of fire descends upon London, the members of Torchwood must battle to protect their own families as the fight gets personal. But will Clem's memories destroy everything?

Plot

The team, plus Rhys, have set up a base in an old factory (christened "Hub 2" by Rhys) that was used by Torchwood One for storage. Through her work as a former Police Officer, Gwen knows all the tricks of the criminal trade, namely stealing mobile phones, debit cards and laptops from people off the street. Jack makes off with a car. Soon the base is stocked with equipment and supplies. While he researchs the other people who were targeted for assassination, whose names he didn't know, Jack is shocked. He seems to recognize them. He runs off.

In Cardiff, Jack's daughter Alice is still trying to contact him; she goes outside and borrows a girl's mobile to phone the Cardiff police, but the government's scanners pick up the mention of Jack's name and attempt to find the connection between them. Agent Johnson gets word of this and her team take Alice and her son away with them to "help" them, as it would be safer for Alice and Steven. Suddenly, Steven points southeastwards to London. All the children on Earth are pointing towards London.

A pillar of light shoots out of the sky and enters Thames House. Fiery energy fills the gas containment system. Mr Frobisher and Mr Dekker meet with the aliens, who inform the humans to call them "456". During the discussion, Frobisher extracts a promise from the 456 that it will not mention its previous visit to Earth in 1965.

Gwen surprises Lois Habiba at the cafe and asks her to wear some special contact lenses that allow the Torchwood team to view what is going on through them. Lois protests but takes the contacts with her despite her fear of committing treason. Gwen then phones PC Andy to bail Clem out from police custody and brings him back to the base.

Jack sneaks into Frobisher's house and steals his wife's mobile. He phones Frobisher, having made the connection between the children and the events of 1965 and threatens Frobisher with "blow[ing] this thing sky high". In retaliation, Frobisher informs Jack that they have taken his daughter and grandson into custody and will kill them if he does so. Jack threatens to do the same, but Frobisher knows that he would never do such a thing. The conversation ends.

It is now night. Frobisher, Bridget Spears and Lois Habiba enter the gas chamber room where it is being filmed for the prime minister and being transmitted to a conference room where UNIT, the American general and the Prime Minister are watching. Frobisher demands that the 456 cease using human children to communicate through; in return the 456 demand a gift: 10% of the children on Earth.

Back at the warehouse base, Clem tells Gwen that he can smell the man who brought the children to the aliens. When Jack walks in, Clem then recognizes him as the man in 1965 who gave the twelve children up to the aliens. When Gwen protests that Jack is a "good guy" who fights aliens, Jack informs them that in this instance, he had done what was asked. He gave the 456 the children... "as a gift."

Cast

Crew

General production staff

Script department

Camera and lighting department

Art department

Costume department

Make-up and prosthetics

Movement

Casting

General post-production staff

Special and visual effects

Sound



Not every person who worked on this adventure was credited. The absence of a credit for a position doesn't necessarily mean the job wasn't required. The information above is based solely on observations of the actual end credits of the episodes as broadcast, and does not relay information from IMDB or other sources.


References

  • This is the second time in the recent Doctor Who multiverse that an alien asked for ten percent of a population, the first being in The Sound of Drums when the Master kills ten percent of Earth's population. Both stories involved Captain Jack Harkness.
  • The footage of the lift going up is the same used in Rose, et al.
  • Clement MacDonald is held at a police station in Camden.
  • Clem describes Ianto as "Queer"

Real world

  • The Children's program Trapped! is seen on the television.

Story notes

to be added

Ratings

  • 5.9 million viewers ( overnight )

Myths

to be added

Filming locations

to be added

Production errors

If you'd like to talk about narrative problems with this story — like plot holes and things that seem to contradict other stories — please go to this episode's discontinuity discussion.
  • During the first scene in the warehouse, when Jack "lets slip" he knew about the pregnancy, Gwen mutters "You promised, John" instead of "You promised, Jack".
  • When Lois Habiba wears the contact lens, she puts them both in the same eye (her left eye).
  • The green goo sprayed on the front of the tank disappears and reappears in different shapes several times between shots.
  • When Gwen is demonstrating the lenses to Lois, several times she looks in different directions and moves her head, but the display on the laptop doesn't move. Also, when Gwen blinks, the display is unaffected.
  • Frobisher welcomes the 456 ambassador on behalf of "The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland", instead of "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" and later, when listing the countries which have agreed to let him speak on their behalf, Frobisher refers to "The Provinces and Territories of Canada". The correct formal name is simply "Canada."

Continuity

Home video releases

  • This Episode was released on DVD along with the rest of Children of Earth on the 13th of July, 2009.

Footnotes